Taxi Driver Online

Recent article in the manchester evening news, published last month. It may be of inerest to someone.


http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/ ... _year.html

Best Wishes

John Davies

John,
I like reading what a journalist sees, tell me do you earn £30,000 or do you take £30,000?

big gap there?

Geoff

Never heard this one before.

Pat Connor, a driver from Wythenshawe who represents drivers at the GMB union, says that that situation means there are still not enough drivers, especially for the weekend evenings. "We can't get the drivers. We need more drivers," said Pat.

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IDFIMH

Geoff, I think we are all aware that the press have no equal when it comes to sensationalism but in this case, they are not that far from the truth.

They are of course guilty of making a statement, without first considering the whole facts.

In order to earn 30.000 net per annum, one would have to gross considerably more.

Then you have to consider the three types of people who drive cabs, for example “owner-driver single track” “owner driver double tracked” and “renter”.

Although my colleagues may frown upon it, I will give you a breakdown of what the potential is for earnings in Manchester.

The Manchester Cab trade is heavily reliant on the very large student population, for nearly five months of the year earnings reflect the absence of this lucrative income.

I will give you the earnings potential based on the student terms, which run for approximately 30 weeks of the year. You may deduct up to 25% to 40% for those weeks that the students are away.

More often than not, a normal track here in Manchester, runs from 6 till 6.

On a Friday and Saturday if a person were to start their night track at 6 p.m. and finish at 6 a.m. he would most likely clear 200.00 each night, possibly more. If the same hours were applied on a Thursday night, you would no doubt clear 150.00. If a driver worked the other four nights, you are probably looking at an additional conservative estimate of 280.00.

If you add it all up, it comes to 830.00.

We now have to consider the potential earnings of Day drivers.

When considering a day driver’s earnings there is an additional factor to consider such as Radio Work. Radio work can contribute considerably to the earnings of a driver who has the benefit of a good Radio system.

A day driver with a radio can do in excess of 200 miles per day on a regular basis. That should tell us that he is earning close to 200 per day. However, most of the work may be account work and not all of the work undertaken will be calculated on clock fare, some of it will be based on mileage at a discounted fixed rate. Therefore it would be safe to say that 200 miles could easily equate to around 150.00 per day

A driver working without a radio has to rely on rank and street work. Therefore, it would be fair to assume that he would earn considerably less than someone who has the benefit of a radio system.

You would have to assume that a day driver working without a radio would probably be averaging around 80.00 to 90.00 a day from the hours 6 to 6.

Now we come to the full complexity of earnings here in Manchester.

Above I have given you a brief run down of the earnings potential mainly for night drivers but consider this. We have a major Airport here in Manchester and the earnings between town work and Airport work can be very different. We have certain types of airport workers too, some Airport workers will never entertain working the Town, once they have dropped off in the city they will go straight back to the Airport empty. Others might work the early mornings at the Airport getting trade from the London shuttles etc. and then work the town for the rest of the day.

In the main the only time you ever see Airport workers in Town is at weekend nights but as I said there are a great many who just wont touch the city under any circumstances.

So, you have a situation where earnings at the Airport can sometimes be very lucrative and at other times, they can be dismal.

Now consider the additional payment an owner-driver gets from tracking his or her cab out. At present, you won’t get a night track on a decent cab for less than 195.00. A day track will set you back at least 165.00

Now consider an owners out goings, if they have an additional driver and are on a Radio system, fully comp insurance, and they keep their vehicle well maintained and serviced most owners will have out goings of around five grand a year and that’s excluding any vehicle repayments.

The Breakdown of earnings is not as straight forwards as the Manchester Evening news implies, simply because every driver has their own way of working. Some might only work half a week, some may work seven days a week others might only work 8 hours a day some may work a full 12 hours.

The beauty of being a cab driver is that you can work when you want but I know from experience that other industries earn far more than cab drivers for the equivalent numbers of hours.

Best wishes

John Davies.

So a night owner/driver with a day driver will take (on average) a grand a week?

Thank god for the select committee.

If that owner wished to work a 12 hour day seven days a week, that is the case but you will find very few owners working those kind of hours. Dont forget those potential earnings I mentioned were for 30 weeks of the year only. When the students aren't here those earnings are reduced dramatically.

You are talking about working 84 hours a week, thats a lot of hours.

Best wishes

John Davies.

In theory,what you say is wonderful.
Reality is much different, John Davies.
I work in Manchester and I can assure you that it is very ''rarely'' that I have cleared 200.
You dont mention the fact that Manchester has two teams in the Premiership.
A lot depends on when they are playing as a lot seems to revolve around their games.
When utd play the streets are deserted especially if the game is televised.
The same effect is felt when they kick off at noon on saturdays.
Most punters have an early night on friday.
A midweek game means that the punters stay at home with the beer.
Quite rightly you say that very few drivers can work 84 hours.
Even then taking £10 per hour on average is not easy.
Finally, the MEN have for years had a Gripe with the Taxi trade in manchester so have never had a good story about them.

You are at liberty to submit your own figures. Some people may take a dim view of you'r statement If you question my figures without being prepared to submit your own.

I await your figures with anticipation.

Best wishes.

I would really doubt anyone would pay up to £40/50/60,000 for a plate if the pickings were not rich.

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IDFIMH

"John"
My dear sir when you challenge somebody to produce figures, may I ask where are yours? Methinks you confuse figures with opinion. To allay any such misunderstanding why not reveal your earnings.
Whilst challenging all and sundry on here to put or shut up you are strangely silent about Joe Thorley's letter or did I miss your reply?
Ged
Ps Perhaps you can tell us just how long is a piece of string?

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taxi driver @manchester airport

Joes on a fishing expedition, I dont respond to those types of posts. I thought my ignoring him said it all.

As for opinions? How can you equate opinions with fact. It is a fact I work nights so I should know how much I earn should I not? Would you feel more comfortable if I said I earned 180 or 190 lol I have no reason to gild the lilly. I said in my original post those earnings were based on a 12 hour shift when the students are hear.

I take it by your response you doubt my guidance on potential earnings of the Manchester Cabbie working the Town. I understand you don't work nights so I can't blame you for not knowing the potential of weekend earnings.

The person from Manchester who responded to my post said he very rarely earns 200 pound on a weekend night. maybe he can tell us what he does earn. is it 170, 180 190?

I suspect those drivers on here who work a twelve hour shift in a regulated Authority will probably take a similiar amount at weekends to what we take.

Best wishes

John Davies.

Anyone who doesnt earn 200+ on a 5pm to 5am Sat in my area is either a lasy sod or a porkie pie'er.
We have some journeymen giving their owners over £400 a week. Why they dont buy and run their own PH I dont know.
But many have.

I operate in the middle of nowhere (forest of dean) and even i earn over £200 on a Saturday night.

congratulations!
now got that off your chest?

I've heard that some owners are charging 260 for a night track here in manchester. I wonder what they will go down to if Manchester ever de-restrict numbers?

Best Wishes

John Davies